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A Change in Cameras

We bought some hackhd cameras but are having some problems with them currently and working with the manufacturer and vendor. Because of our time crunch, we’re probably going to ditch our effort on there. So, this is where we’re going. A stand alone video camera. We just hit record at launch time.

Requirements:

1) Enough battery life to record for a solid 4 hours – although 6 hours preferred.

2) As lightweight as possible as the payload has weight restrictions

3) If it uses AA’s that’s best because we have AA’s that are safe at that altitude (other batteries might work, but we’d have to research)

Preferences – although these aren’t game breaking:

1) HD !

2) Wide angle if at all possible, but not required.

Downfalls or Detriments

1) Temperature — The camera is going really high. Most camera’s aren’t rated for full exposure to space. We’re not actually fully exposing this thing to space, but the temps will still be lower than usual. So, normal batteries may not cut it and will probably fail at full altitude. The camera itself (being electronic) might fail as well. Lowest temps we expect are -40 C.

2) Payload Loss – We’re tracking this thing with radio and GPS. However, we might lose it or it might get wrecked on landing. We’re using a parachute so this shouldn’t happen, but it could.